Entertainment Reporter.
Photo Credit:Drum.
Uzalo leading lady Dawn Thandeka King and Rhythm City actor Mduduzi Mabaso will lead the cast of Isibaya’s replacement show DiepCity.
It’s working name was Diepsloot but it’s been changed to DiepCity and it premieres on Monday 5 April at 20h30.
It centres round the trials, tribulations and exploits of Nokuthula “Nox” Jele, a small time burglar and hustler played by Nozuko Ncayiyane (Skeem Saam, Scandal!), who was known earlier in her career as Pretty Ncayiyane.
She’s joined by Mduduzi Mabaso, who says goodbye to his long-time alter ego Suffocate on the cancelled Rhythm City and hello to Elliot, a rogue security guard and low-level gangster who was involved in a robbery with Nox which went tragically wrong.
Nox’s bright straight-A student younger brother Sibusiso, played by Tshiamo Molobi, was fatally shot during a house robbery he was not supposed to be part of and Nox was arrested and spent time behind bars.
The story begins after her release as she returns to find her family.
Her alcoholic father Bonga, played by Hamilton Dlamini, has lost his job, her family are still in a shack and her mother Thandiwe continues to be a domestic worker.
The one big change between Nox’s past and present: Thandiwe’s inability to forgive her for Sibusiso’s death.
The role of Thandiwe is played by Dawn Thandeka King, who took the Exit door at Uzalo for this show. Her final appearances as MaNgcobo are coming up in April.
In addition to Nox’s story, the show also explores the lives of three other young women who are interwined with Nox, all connected by the fact that they committed crimes in high school in order to make ends meet.
Coincidentally, the telenovela will debut the same night as SABC 3’s Isidingo successor The Estate, starring Dineo Langa, Sdumo Mtshali and Linda Sebezo.
“As part of our new show offering for April, DiepCity is a tale that does not only have an explosive, gripping storyline, but one that exposes the lived realities of most South Africans – the life of crime and poverty,” said Nomsa Philiso, the director of local entertainment channels at M-Net.